Going Rogue with X-Men Voice Actor Lenore Zann

Interviewing Lenore Zann, the voice of Rogue, at the Uncanny Experience 2023.

For many X-Fans, Lenore Zann needs no introduction. She was the voice of one of the most popular characters, Rogue, in X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997) as well as the video games X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998), and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000).

At the first Uncanny Experience convention in Minneapolis in 2023, where Zann was a guest, I got the chance to sit down with her and talk about her excitement about returning to the role in the animated revival X-Men ’97.

True to Life

“Well, first of all, I gotta say thank you to the fans, because it’s because of all of their love and support and loyalty that the show is getting rebooted,” she told me.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Zann has worked as a screen, stage, and voice actor, appearing in numerous television shows, films, radio programs, and animated series. When she originally played Rogue, it was only her second animated series even though she had been doing movies and television and theater for about 12 years at that point.

She said she looks to her own as inspiration for portraying the character. Like Rogue, she wears her heart on her sleeve, cares passionately about social justice, equality, and fairness, and will always stand up and fight for the underdog. In 2008, she took this to the next level: After living across Europe and North America, she returned to the town where she grew up—Truro, Nova Scotia—and went into politics. She explained:

I was asked to run for election for a state-run legislature in Canada, in Nova Scotia, which is where my parents moved to when I was a kid after we left Australia. … And so I was asked to run in the provincial election. And I won. And then I won three more elections after that. And the last one I went federal, so I ran for the Liberal Party of Canada, which is Prime Minister Trudeau’s party, and I won that one. So all together, I was in politics for 12 years.

Zann introduced a number of progressive bills to help bring the country forward in the areas of diversity and equality, women’s rights, and environmental issues. One that she is particularly proud of introducing involves a national strategy to address environmental racism and environmental justice. The bill was still before the House of Commons at the time of our conversation, but it passed on June 21, 2024.

Around the time Zann resigned her provincial seat in 2019 to focus on running for federal office, Larry Houston, the producer and director of the original X-Men animated series, and the series’ creative team were discussing a potential revival with Disney. Zann won her federal race and served from 2019 to 2021. In November 2021, Marvel announced X-Men ’97, and Zann was, of course, tapped to reprise her role as Rogue.

Rogue in X-Men ’97. Courtesy of Marvel Animation

Relating to a Hero

For those unfamiliar with the character, Rogue began as a villain who loses control of her powers and was recruited by Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, who promised to help her. Many fans attribute her popularity in the show to Zann’s portrayal and what she brings to vocalizing her. But with so much of her background a mystery, and with starting out as a villain being a common path for many popular Marvel characters (including Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye), I asked Zann what she felt made Rogue unique. To illustrate her answer, she pointed to her two favorite episodes of the original series.

In season 2, episode 9, “A Rogue’s Tale,” viewers get to see Rogue’s backstory:

In that episode we get to see the vulnerability and the fear and the anxiety that this young woman had as a youngster, when she started to realize that she had powers that she couldn’t control. And when she started to realize that she could actually kill people just by kissing someone, or touching them, that’s a pretty heavy, heavy burden to bear. And for a young woman, she had to realize that this means she can never be intimate, and never fall in love, and never have a normal relationship with somebody. So I think that makes Rogue even more human in some ways.

Zann feels Rogue resonates with so many fans because she goes through something so common for a lot of people: doing something we’re not proud of and then having to come to terms with what we’ve done, realizing that we don’t like ourselves too much—even hating ourselves, like Rogue does—for doing it. She noted that like many of us trying to find our way through something like that, Rogue tries to change herself to cope: In “The Cure” (season 1, episode 9), she goes to Muir Island to try to become “normal.” Naturally, some conflict ensues, and in the course of it she realizes that it’s the unique things about her that that she needs to hold on to, that those things that make her who she is and she needs to accept and embrace herself.

As Zann puts it, “she realizes ‘there ain’t no cure for who you are.’ And, I would add, nor should there be. So I think that also speaks to many people. And I think there’s an important message for people, especially young people, to really get ahold of and accept about themselves.”

Embracing the Character

Zann has embraced her connection to Rogue in creative areas outside her voice-acting work. In 2023, she released a song just before Valentine’s Day dedicated to the character’s teammate and love interest, Gambit, called “Mojo Man (Ode to Remy LeBeau).” She also sang about Gambit during karaoke at the Uncanny Experience, changing the lyrics of Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight” so that instead of looking for an anonymous “you,” she was looking for Remy. She’s always looking for Remy, Zann said. Her album, Strong Enough, is coming later this fall on Spotify. She has also just released a memoir, A Rogue’s Tale, which is available through Amazon and Indigo.

Zann finished our interview with some words for her fans:

I love all of you. And I really hope I get to meet as many of you as possible at all the different comic cons … I’m loving getting around the country and meeting all you fans. So thank you for your support your loyalty.

You can follow Lenore Zann on Instagram, X, and Spotify for updates and appearances.

Pottersfield Press